Texas Advantages

There are many advantages to choosing Simple Surrogacy as your Surrogacy Agency, and the most important among them is our location in Dallas, Texas.

Being located in Texas allows us to offer many advantages to our clients, the foremost advantage being cost. Although our location is in Dallas, Texas, we have worked with Surrogates, Egg Donors and Intended Parents from nearly every state. We will be able to match you with a surrogate in any state where surrogacy is legally favorable. We have available surrogates in most states where surrogacy is common, inlcuding but not limited to Texas, Florida, and California. Our advantages of location in Dallas, Texas allow us to work easily accross the country to help you achieve your family in any state you choose.

Lower Agency Fees

Many of our clients ask us how we can offer much lower rates for our services than comparable East- and West- coast agencies. The answer lies in our Texas Advantage. As an agency located in Texas, we have the benefit of operating in a state with no state income tax, unlike comparable agencies that must pay income tax to their state on their earnings. That allows us to cut 10% off their costs right off the top.

In addition, the cost of living in Texas is 10-15% lower in Texas, versus California, or states back east such as Massachusetts, New York and Florida. What that means for us is lower overhead and expenses, so we can pass that savings onto our clients. We pay less for almost everything that coastal agencies must pay more for, including but not limited to rents, personnel, utilities, professional services and office expenses. That is one of the many reasons why so many companies relocate to advantageous cost-of-living states like Texas.

Being centrally located also allows us the advantages of working efficiently on both coasts. We are located close to one of the country’s most efficient and largest airports, Dallas- Ft.Worth International Airport, which facilitates travel arrangements. Being in the central time zone, we are available for most of the working day on both the West and East coasts, which helps to speed through surrogacies that have participants on those coasts as well as internationally.

Legal Advantages

Married Couples Texas Advantage

Married couples residing in Texas have the additional advantage of strong laws that legalize their Gestational Surrogacy. With the most progressive laws of any state, married couples in donor and gestational arrangements are fully protected by the Texas laws.

Gestational Surrogacy Arrangements

In 2003, the Texas legislature enacted laws governing surrogacy, also known as gestational arrangements. Gestational arrangements and agreements, along with egg donor agreements, fall within the purview of Assisted Reproductive Technology law (ART). There are now Texas legal guidelines on what gestational agreements should contain to be valid so that a Texas court can recognize and ratify them to ensure that the intended parents are also the legal parents of the child, regardless of biology, and to get the intended parents’ names on the child’s birth certificate. Texas has had egg donor (and sperm donor) laws on the books for many years.

Under Texas surrogacy law, the married intended parents, not the gestational mother, are the legal parents of a child born to a surrogate mother if all parties entered into a validated gestational agreement at least 14 days before the embryo is transferred to the surrogate mother.

Texas surrogacy law allows the intended parents to use their own genetic material or the sperm or egg may come from a donor. However, Traditional Surrogacies (where a surrogate mother uses her own eggs) are not supported, and unfortunately, non-married couples and gay couples cannot take advantage of the statute.

By Texas law, validated “gestational agreements” between IPs and their gestational mothers have several advantages. The benefits to Texas agreements are:

gestational agreements are valid and enforceable in Texas

the surrogate may be compensated

IPs are recognized as the legal parents of the child upon his or her birth certificate

No need for an adoption or secondary legal work

Married couples who do not live in Texas can also take advantage of the Texas law if their surrogate lives here.

Supports gestational surrogacies where the IPs both have genetic relationship to the child

Supports gestational surrogacies where only one Intended Parent has genetic relationship to the child

Supports gestational surrogacies where both egg donor and sperm donor are used, and Intended Parents have no genetic relationship to the child

To use Texas law, there are a few criteria that couples must meet within the state of Texas. These criteria are set by the courts, and must be met prior to any agreement being validated and prior to any embryo transfer. To make sure to meet Texas law, your surrogacy contract must contain certain provisions before a Texas court will validate it as a “gestational agreement.” The most important requirements are as follows:

The intended parents must be a man and a woman who are married to each other

All parties must sign the agreement at least 14 days before the embryo transfer

A doctor must certify the medical necessity of the arrangement; Simple Surrogacy will assist you in obtaining your doctor’s affidavit. Medical necessity can be related to:

Intended Mother is unable to carry and/or deliver a child

Intended Mother or Intended Father have medical issues which prevent the safe normal conception of pregnancy

The pregnancy would pose an unreasonable risk to her physical and/or mental health or to the health of the baby

The gestational carrier must have had at least one previous pregnancy and delivery

Traditional surrogacies are not allowed under the law

A home study may be required, but is usually not required

The agreement must provide for the safety and health of the child and surrogate carrier

The agreement must contain disclosures to insure full knowledge of medical risks

Unfortunately for our single clients and non-married or gay couples, the Texas statute does not extend its protection to validating and enforcing your agreements. However, though it does not enforce such agreements, it also does not consider them illegal. In these cases, our experienced a associate attorneys will help you navigate the general Texas family laws to help you obtain their full available parental rights to their children through surrogacy.

Egg Donation Contracts

Texas has had egg donor (and sperm donor) laws on the books for many years. Texas laws cover all arrangements where sperm, eggs and embryos are donated by a third party and transferred to an intended mother or gestational surrogate who will carry and give birth to the resulting child. Texas laws hold that the donating party gives up all rights and obligations to any future created children from their genetic material and there is no need for court validation or adoption procedures.